I finally got to play that “Warforged” character I had made a few weeks back with a group of friends playing Dungeons and Dragons today. Since this was my first bit of role playing, I got to copy down my Internet generated character. They handed me a character sheet, as well as an entire binder of Eberron background materials.

This gave me total nostalgia flashbacks. Way back in middle school, I happened upon a copy of a D&D rule book. I used to keep my D&D character sheets and little squares of grid paper in a binder too. During study hall, I would roll characters and read up on monsters, but I never really got a chance to play with people. The books and rules are what really got me interested in gaming instead of baseball cards or something else kids around me did.

This was my first real Roleplaying experience with other like minded people. It was a lot more relaxed than I expected. It was basically a controlled story telling session, where we were the main characters directing what happened. The Dungeon Master, was basically there to suggest what we should do next, and act as a referee between the people in our party as well as the non-player characters we interacted with during the game. He also filled us in on what we could see and do at any particular time. I also go some advice on possible actions that my character could do, since I was new.

The statistics and rules that dominate the character creation process really only come up when you try to do something to affect the outcome of the story as it unfolds. Depending on what you were doing, whether attacking, or trying to lie to one of the other characters, you needed to roll dice to see how successful you were.

My character is a gigantic walking vehicle of destruction and mayhem. I’ve picked a Warforged Fighter, so I was encountering several different opponents of various sizes and shapes that I needed to bludgeon, stab, and pierce to death, for STORY reasons, of course. We were on a sort of mini-quest for a series of items that required discretion on our part, so we could leave no survivors. This suits my playstyle. Whenever I managed to score a hit, it usually did massive amounts of damage, which entertains me greatly.

We succeeded in seeking the items we needed, so we were handsomely rewarded. I even leveled up! Level 4! Two more levels and I’ll be a completely frightening bad-ass machine of death. Right now I’m sitting on a pile of gold, but I don’t know what I’m going to spend it on. I’ve even got a +1 flaming halberd I upgraded from our benefactor.

I’ve got a lot of background information to read up on now that I’ve been invited back to play the game again on Children’s Day in a week. I lucked out that playing a big fighter is usually just down to “hitting things” or “run at the next target”. The other players were on top of a lot of the terminology and choices available to them, so it was a lot easier for them to know how to react. They thought I brought something to the table, so I’ll keep playing. It seems that we’ll be drawn up into some intrigue and greater amounts of conflict starting next time. This was more of a “trial run” to see how the party would work out.